Manure: Valuable Source of Plant Nutrients
CHAMBERSBURG - The term
“agricultural waste” has been
used to refer to manure in recent
years. More often than not, it is
also what it has been - something
to get nd of. Manure has been
considered a necessary evil
inherent to all livestock
operations.
It need not be that way, ac
cording to Stanley Palmer, Soil
Conservation Technician with the
Soil Conservation Service in
Franklin County. He added,
“Manure is an agricultural
byproduct that should be
recognized as a resource to be used
in the farm operation.”
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Palmer gave these reasons why
manure should be held in higher
regard:
The use of manure on cropland
supplies valuable nutrients that
can help reduce fertilizer costs. It
increases the organic matter
content of soil and enhances soil
structure. And it reduces the
potential for soil erosion.
Manure also improves the water
holding capacity of the soil, thus
reducing the potential for stress on
plants during droughts.
Manure contains many of the
essential plant nutrients, with the
most important being nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium.
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Nutrient contents are highly
variable among manure because
of variations in animals, feeds,
storage, and application method.
Essentially, all of the
phosphorus and potassium in
manure is available to plants
within one year of application.
From 70 to 80 percent of the total
nitrogen in beef or dairy manure is
considered available in the year of
application.
the nitrogen availability applies
only when fresh manure is injected
or immediately incorporated into
the - soil. The “unavailable”
organic nitrogen in manure will
slowly decompose in the soil into a
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nitrogen form usable by plants.
Assuming that 50 percent of the
nitrogen in manure is lost in most
farm operations, Palmer says you
can estimate the dollar value of
manure as a fertilizer.
Using average costs of 28 cents
per pound for nitrogen, 25 cents per
pound of phosphate and 16 cents
per pound of potash, each ton of
dairy manure is worth around $3.
Applying manure at a 15-ton-per
acre rate is equivalent to the ap
plication of $45 worth of fertilizer.
“In addition, the manure
provides soil improvement values
that are difficult to quantify, but
neveretheless valid, such as the
improvement in soil structure,”
Palmer said.
Poultry manure has a higher
nitrogen and phosphate content
then dairy manure. .Similar
computations on the value of
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poultry manure as a fertilizer show
each ton supplies $ll worth of plant
nutrients. Spreading poultry
manure at a five-ton-per-acre rate
on corn ground applies $55 worth of
fertilizer per acre.
The high calcium content of
poultry manure also raises the soil
pH, thus- reducing lime
requirements on acid soils.
Some argue that the costs of
spreading the manure need to be
addressed in an overall
cost/benefit analysis. “However,”
Palmer said, “you would incur
expenses in disposing of the
‘waste’ even if you trucked it to
some other suitable location.
> He concluded “The nutrients and
soil improvement benefits of
manure make it more of a resource
than a waste. It is an important
ingredient for any soil
management program.”
York Co. DHIA
(Continued from Page 06)
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